U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia visited Yale Law School on Thursday, April 3, meeting with the Yale Law Federalist Society, students, and members of the faculty.

After a morning reception with the board of the Yale Law Federalist Society, Justice Scalia spoke with Federalist Society members and a small group of students selected by lottery.

"Justice Scalia came to Yale Law School in 1982 for the inaugural Federalist Society conference," said John James "J.J." Snidow ’14, President of the Yale Law Federalist Society. "Since then, largely because of Justice Scalia's careful shepherding in those early years, FedSoc has grown to become one of the most influential and well-respected institutions in the legal world. FedSoc members spend quite a bit of class time defending Justice Scalia's work, so we were very honored to be able to host our intellectual godfather back at the place where it all began."

Dean Robert Post ’77 welcomed the Justice during a lunch with Law School faculty, with further remarks from Sterling Professor of Law and U.S. Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi ’58.

“Justice Scalia has defined the terms on which modern questions of public law are debated,” said Dean Robert Post. “One can be for his views, or against them, but his perspective must be addressed. That is an enormous accomplishment.”

The Justice’s visit to the Law School came a day after delivering a lecture at Saint Thomas More, The Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale, entitled “Not to the Wise: The Christian as Cretin,” as part of the Judge Guido Calabresi Fellowship in Religion and Law sponsored by the Lehrman Institute.

Justice Scalia has held multiple federal appointments, including General Counsel of the Office of Telecommunications Policy, Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel.

In 1982, he was appointed Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. President Reagan nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat September 26, 1986.